


A Game for People

by thecakeflavor



Category: Pyre (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 06:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20403499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecakeflavor/pseuds/thecakeflavor
Summary: Even without the stars, the rites still guide history. Society develops because it is necessary.





	A Game for People

After the stars faded, the downside got quieter. The killer vegetables stayed in their beds, and howlers rarely left their lands. The nomads that roamed the plains set up permanent settlements as soon as they realized that they could. Literacy in the downside grew with peace and prosperity. But the triumvirates, despite losing their astral guidance, still yearned for the arena. They could not settle like everyone else did.

Folks who only knew each other's names because the arch-justices shouted them years ago started sending each other letters. Through the stories they told and wrote, triumvirate members became local legends, and letter carriers had an easier time delivering than they thought. Of course, one letter begets another, and soon these mailfolks learn the villages as well as they know the paths that connect them. Other people, it turns out, would also like mail delivered, information communicated, and a hundred letters is only a little heavier than one. As long as the village you were in was willing to provide rations to the traveler, you could tell anyone anything anywhere across the downside. Roadmaps were painted for those interested in travel, and tourists started to attend local festivals and concerts. 

Some triumvirates meet up with others at places that were once Celestial Landmarks, and they cry together. It is too much to see each other again, and it is not enough. They don the raiments that they said they wouldn't bring, expecting nothing and everything, and they discover that there's just enough titan-magic in the land for auras to manifest, especially if they say the appropriate prayers. With wood-carved balls, they play. 

In hundreds of letters, a schedule is drafted, based on the busy lives that the members now live, instead of the whims of the night sky. People who have heard the stories and grown curious are invited to watch, arbitrate, and even join. Small communities appear around the carcasses of titans, to provide food, shelter, and supplies for those playing and watching. Leagues start, so that children and other newcomers to the game don't have to face those who once played for their lives. Seeing a rite-game becomes a sort of pilgrimage, a source of inspiration. 

* * *

When something is no longer a rite for gods, it can become a game for people.


End file.
